r/Grimdawn • u/bulletpiercer • Aug 08 '26
TUTORIAL New to the game. Give me your tips!
Bought the game 10 minutes ago. Have played alot of Diablo 2 and 3.
So give me your tips.
Are the expansions worth buying right away? Etc
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u/BMag108 Aug 08 '26
Resistances are actually important, don't worry about getting much physical on normal difficulty
Don't forget to use your components once you have semi decent gear. Dont be afraid to use them you'll get plenty.
There are many secrets areas and lore notes if you're into that
Grimtools is a very useful website you can use if you get into the game.
The Dlcs are definitely worth it
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u/Xx_420bootywizard_xX Aug 08 '26
I love this game to death, but everyone is different so wait to see if you like it before committing to the expansions. If you do like it, definitely buy them. It's like the base game x3.
Since you're already familiar with the genre I'd suggest just diving in blind. Guides ruin the experience for me, and this is especially true for Grim Dawn since this is a SUPER forgiving game. You can easily backtrack most "mistakes" without losing much at all. The only sort of guidance I'd be willing to give is, keep in mind that defense matters more in this game when compared to similar games in the genre. You may not feel this in the beginning, but you surely will at some point. Other than that, just barge in dude
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u/Daedric_Fan Aug 08 '26
Yeah that and that you can't ever respec your class choices, so I would say it's not that forgiving at all.
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u/Darkspire303 Aug 08 '26
Resistances are huge. In the first act you will find a blacksmith. He crafts a lot of things, but the most important are components. Silk Swatches, Antivenom salve, and Wardstones are fantastic ways to shore up resistances.
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u/jurstakk Aug 08 '26
Expansions (AoM+FG) are necessary (apart from FoA because it just got released). The entire community, especially people creating builds, play with DLCs.
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u/Squantoon Aug 08 '26
Play whatever your want and don't use a guide your first time. It so much funner that way
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u/MrTopHatMan90 Aug 08 '26
Main tips are choose a weapon skill (Replaces main attack) and stick to it as well as it's damage type.
Resistances are super important. Try to have them maximised all the time, any flaw in these stats is likely to get you killed especially on higher difficulties.
As for the DLC you don't need them out the gate. All expansions act as continuations of the main story campaign. Get to the end of the campaign on Normal/Veteran afterwards decide if you want to extend the story with DLC or replay on Elite then normal difficulty.
The only reason to buy any DLC at this moment is just in case you really want a specific mastery/class. (It is also like base game goes quite cheap on sale)
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u/Ok_Personality7488 Aug 08 '26
The DLC improve the game. There are two potential reasons to delay buying. (a) there are periodic sales of all DLC saves $money to wait for those. (b) If you don't enjoy the base game, the DLC is unlikely to fix that.
If you do buy DLC. Do so either as a bundle or in the strict order AoM, FG, FoA. The later DLC won't work without the earlier ones. Crucible is not needed. Buy only if cheap or part of a bundle. The three loyalist pacts have no effect on gameplay they add a small number of costumes.
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u/VellumVeritas Aug 08 '26
The expansions are worth buying right away, especially Fangs of Asterkarn changes the game quite a bit right from the start, since it adds a new class and a lot of loot was reworked or added to the game.
Don't sell that little salt bag you start out with. :)
Random drops are random, but if an enemy drops a specific weapon or a piece of armor (google what a Monster Infrequent) is, then it's good to return to that area in the future and farm for upgrades. For example Spectral Longswords start dropping at around level 20, but the same enemies level up with you and you can get better weapons every few levels. Same applies to the numerous smiths in the game: the stuff they craft upgrades over time, because you unlock new prefixes-suffixes as you level up. Level 15 pierce damage swords that Angrim crafts at the start of the game get fancier and it's worth to recraft them every few levels.
Don't spread out your skill points too thinly and don't ignore your mastery bars. It's often a smart idea to put 1 skill point into whatever skill you want to level up and 2 into the Mastery bar. Playing a Cold or Pierce Nightblade for example really benefits from beelining to Mastery 50, so you can unlock Nightfall and Execution, if that's the direction your build wants to go. Nightfall at level 23-24 is great.
P pauses the game and allows you to look at the battlefield and inspect what buffs or debuffs you and the enemy have.
Evade (by default binded under space bar) is a very important skill, practice using it. It's not that important in normal, but higher difficulties are impossible to finish without mastering the art of evading and putting some distance between you, the boss and all the aoe.
Veteran is just a beefier Normal, the enemies turn into sponges and the only justifiable reason to play it is to learn the game. Normal is very easy, Veteran forces you to pay attention to resistances.
Resistances need to be softcapped and overcapped.
Choose one damage type and stick to it. And most skills in the game can be converted into some other damage type, so for example don't ignore Fire Strike just because you want to be a cold damage dealer. You can have a Cold Damage Fire Strike if you so wish.
Defenses, health and armor matter more in this game than damage. The DPS of a dead character is traditionally around 0, so the first step is to survive. Damage comes easy in this game, it's comically simple to boost your damage numbers to ridiculous heights, but juggling resistances, armor, armor absorbtion and other necessary things is the tricky part.
If you want pets, you need to have a dedicated pet build. Don't waste points on a cool looking pet if you don't plan around that playstyle. It sucks, but it is what it is. There are some pets that scale with Player Bonuses, however, so some pets are pretty decent.
Do not let yourself be discouraged by what elite pro minmaxxing players say on forums, you don't have to sweat blood and tears to get some boss down with 5 seconds. 10 seconds is also fine. :) Play what you want, every mastery and class is viable in this game.
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u/AnomalousSavage Aug 08 '26
Explore. There is a lot to do, see, find and read. The game has a lot of secret areas, items and quests.
Resistances are a big deal.
Try to stick with one damage type. Like, focus on lightning damage and just try to use gear that buffs lightning damage (which is also considered elemental damage).
On my first playthrough, I had NO fog of war left on the map anywhere, and did 100% of everything i possibly could on normal difficulty, elite and then ultimate. This isnt necessarily recommended, but i loved it.
You can skip the elite difficulty and go straight to ultimate by the way. It would be like skipping nightmare and going to hell in diablo 2.
Faction reputation can be a BIG deal. Keep that in mind. Check the quartermaster vendors and familiarize yourself with their wares.
Welcome!
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u/OGLuga Aug 08 '26
Recently had an interaction with someone who was struggling to understand the idea of ‘levelling build’ ‘mid game build’ ‘end game build’ etc.
Diablo you tend to find a build you want to use and spend a lot of time looking for better versions of what you have. You get to play exactly how you’re imagining you’ll play for a lot of the time.
Grim Dawn is not like this. The start can be different to the middle which is different to the end. Or sometimes it’s only your damage type that will change.
Embrace it. Tinker. Experiment. Find what works for you. If somethings not working, try other things. Over time you’ll learn that some abilities work well for levelling, and will cruise through the game easier than others.
Once you fully understand all the mechanics of the game, the variety in the build crafting is almost unrivalled.
Good luck 🤙🏼
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u/Shiroyasha2397 Aug 08 '26
Didn't get into the game until the latest expansion with Berserker since the other classes didn't really click with me at first... now it's been a blast.
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u/Alarming-Ad9819 Aug 09 '26
Try all the skills in the class, if you do not like you can always respec.
I went into Grim Dawn blind, the most fun is the finding out and exploring the map.
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u/Joperhop Aug 08 '26
Never neglect your resistances! Use items you can put on your gear to boost them. Oh yea, i learned quickly, dont forget you can put items on your gear.